Bob Dylan is the King of Protest Songs and has been since the genre was popularized in the 1950’s. Dylan long ago became a cultural staple, as his music has been used in film, movies, television and passed on from generation to generation. It’s rare that you’ll meet someone these days who doesn’t have some idea of who the singer is. Most of the time, the image that fills our heads is that young guy with a harmonica attached to him as he plays guitar singing, “and the times they are a-changin’.”
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan is a 2005 documentary film done by Martin Scorsese of all people which focuses on Dylan and his impact on American culture. It also details his controversial shift from folk music to rock. It includes interviews with those who knew him best such as Allen Ginsberg, David Van Ronk, Joan Baez and multiple others.
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story was also done by Scorsese and is also available on Netflix. It came about fourteen years after 2005 special, which was done as part of the PBS American Masters program.
Both are an interesting look at a figure so closely tied to American culture and music and well worth the watch.
